The rapidly developing Cornell NYC Tech made another stride forward last month when it inked a deal with developer Forest City Ratner Companies, which will be the “master developer” of the first phase of construction at the tech campus.
As part of the deal, Forest City Ratner will help develop two buildings on the tech campus’ Roosevelt Island site.
The first, a 200,000-square-foot “corporate co-location building,” will both house tech companies and be used by tech campus students. The building will include common spaces to promote frequent, informal interactions between students and tech industry professionals.
When the building is complete, it will act as another way for the tech campus to promote collaboration between industry and academia, administrators said.
Forest City Ratner will also oversee development of Cornell Tech’s first academic building, which will encompass 150,000 square feet of space. The building will be designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne.
Cathy Dove, vice president of Cornell Tech, hailed the University’s partnership with Forest City Ratner, saying in an email that “this level of investment in the campus validates Cornell Tech’s enormous economic development potential for New York and ensures that we will have a vibrant mix of activities when the campus opens in 2017.”
Dove said Cornell Tech selected Forest City Ratner, which built The New York Times Building, because of its vision and “excellent” team.
While development and construction goes on, Cornell Tech will continue to operate in space donated by Google in Chelsea.
Dove added that Cornell Tech hopes to build the campus so it will withstand any potential natural disasters, like Hurricane Sandy in 2012, while posing minimal disruption to the surrounding community.
“We have taken a series of measures to ensure the campus is prepared to weather future storms and floods, and we have worked closely with the community to ensure that the impact of construction is mitigated where possible,” Dove said.
Original Author: Alexa Davis